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 Replies: 26 / Views: 2,512 |
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Rest in Peace
United States
10625 Posts |
I think this has too much wear to be an origianl full date Buffalo. A couple more hits on the obverse and it could pass for a Hobo.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
687 Posts |
It's a 1916 and it looks acid dated too me. The coin is way too worn to have a date that bold and there appears to be a discoloration around the date where you'd find an over zealous nic-a-date ring.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1291 Posts |
It's almost certainly been treated with some sort of chemical, and vinegar qualifies as a chemical just the same a Nic-a-date or anything else. If you dip it into some sort of jewelry or silverware cleaner that date area will almost certainly look different than the rest of the coin.
Try the "toothpick test" on it. Take a round, sharp-pointed toothpick and gently "push" (as opposed to "drag") the point across the numerals. If the toothpick jams against the numeral and stops, it's probably a real date. If the toothpick glides easily up and over the numeral it's probably a restoration.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3283 Posts |
Nic-a-date restored coins have an etched look and feel light in your hand. If someone places nic-a-date just on the date area
you get an unnatural discoloration, so that is easy to tell.
The date on this coin definately looks restored to me. Full ghostly looking date on an otherwise very worn coin.
Should be a partialy date at best.
I agree with a vinegar soaked coin in this instance as vinegar leaves a more natural look when used. Then the coin was but back out
to become retoned as we say. The only other possibilty is nic-a-date on the date and the coin somehow lost it's halo of discoloration with time,
but I doubt that.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
It could have been in some naturally acidic environment too, like a dug coin that was in acidic soil. That might have the same effect as vinegar. None of the nickels I've restored with nic-a-date, PCB etchant or vinegar have the smooth/slippery feeling surface you'd find on a regular circulated nickel, but maybe some other environment might have that effect. It's also possible that the roughness would go away quickly with additional circulation, but the restored date is generally quite shallow and would disappear quickly too. It's not so much that the date is actually raised relative to the surrounding metal after restoration - it's more that the metal around it becomes relatively more porous making the date visible. The surface remains mostly flat.
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Pillar of the Community
 1028 Posts |
Quote:
Try the "toothpick test" on it. Take a round, sharp-pointed toothpick and gently "push" (as opposed to "drag") the point across the numerals. If the toothpick jams against the numeral and stops, it's probably a real date. If the toothpick glides easily up and over the numeral it's probably a restoration. I was waiting for you to answer, I knew you'd have a good idea. The toothpick did glaze over the date. I have also now scratched the date on the coin  It is fairly worn though...with barely visible dates, but genuine ones, I would doubt the toothpick would stick. I don't want to try on any of my definitely real partial dates as to not want to scratch them too. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1291 Posts |
Unless you're pressing and gouging quite vigorously, the toothpick should not damage an original date. It could easily, however, scuff up a restoration. Go ahead and try it on a common Jefferson in your pocket and I'd be surprised if it left a mark.
What really happens when you restore a date on the nickel is that both the date and the field around it are eroded, but the field erodes faster making it look like the date is rising up. The date area and the surrounding field are, as captainwiffo points out, "porous" after the application of the chemical. Porous metal scuffs easier than smooth, evenly worn metal.
If restored date nickels were to be placed back into circulation the restored date would disappear in a fraction of the time it took the original date to disappear.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
The date can even disappear just sitting on the shelf as the freshly etched metal oxidizes. I know several of mine have started to fade after only a couple months (though others have remained clear).
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1291 Posts |
Quote:
The date can even disappear just sitting on the shelf as the freshly etched metal oxidizes I have NEVER experienced THAT. They do tend to "tone", however, when you chemically treat the entire coin. |
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Pillar of the Community
1028 Posts |
Hmmm...good information here.
I now believe that the date has difintely been restored, but probably by vinegar or something and not nick-a-date as there is clearly no difference between the date area and the rest of Mr. Indian.
The coin was put back in circulation, obviously, because that's where I got it, so that probably made it look more natural overall and may have smoothed it over.
For what it's worth, I still think it's a well done tricky restoration. I mean, the coin basically looks like the rest of my well worn buffalos, just a full date with the amount of wear raised an eyebrow. Nic-a-date is usually pretty obvious to me, but this one had me stumped.
I doubt most collectors, except for experts like weerdsteeev, would have picked this one up, especially if it was one of many.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
Maybe not several - I've seen it on a few extremely worn examples where the date was just barely legible after restoration and then fades as the metal tones. Also, some dateless lots I've gotten have acid dates where the date is not legible and is dark and gunky looking. It's possible somebody acid-dated it, saw it was a common date, and tossed it aside without cleaning it off properly. Reapplication clears it up though. I got a '14-D that way.
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Replies: 26 / Views: 2,512 |
First Page
Posted 10/31/2011 12:22 am
